do (John). Here was just the leader they needed, who could at a word supply all the needs of an army, and had all divine power at his command. With him for a leader, taking advantage of the discontent, the whole people would rise up, overthrow Herod, go to Jerusalem, make it their capital, throw off the Roman yoke, and enter upon the glorious career God had promised, but which could be fulfilled only by a different method.

Third. Jesus immediately withdrew again into the mountain himself alone (v. 15). This season of prayer alone with God lasted several hours, for it began in the evening after sunset; and he does not come to his disciples till the fourth watch, or between 3 and 6 o'clock the next morning (Matt. 14:25).

There were many reasons why Jesus might wish to be alone in prayer. (1) He needed to keep in constant communion with his heavenly Father, to derive strength and wisdom and all spiritual good from heaven. He would keep in constant communication with his base of supplies. (2) He needed the things he asked for. The crowd were more eager for earthly bread than for heavenly (John 6:26). They were earthly, unspiritual, with little hunger after righteousness, and feeble conception of the blessings of the kingdom of God. (3) He needed hope, encouragement, long vision, patience. (4) He needed strength to overcome the renewal of one of his greatest temptations, to obtain a worldly kingdom, and greatness and honor, with ease and plenty and immediate success, instead of a spiritual kingdom and the salvation of the world by the hard slow way of self-sacrificing toil and the cross. In the forty days of temptation at the beginning of his ministry, this was Satan's masterpiece, a vision of the future with its glorious civilizations, and redeemed peoples, coming by the worldly method according to the expectations of the Jews. Fourth. The Disciples in a storm at sea. Contrary Winds.

While Jesus was

praying among the hills, the disciples were rowing in a northeast direction toward Bethsaida, where, apparently, they were to meet Jesus, take him on board, and then proceed to Capernaum, their home. On

the way they were overtaken by one of the sudden, violent storms from the north, so common on the Sea of Galilee.

"The winds like demons scream and rave!

The sheeted foam blends wave with wave!"

The danger was great. The tempest drove them away from Bethsaida where they were expecting to meet Jesus. They struggled in vain against the wind for several hours. But Jesus was watching them (Mk. 6:48). In the fourth watch, between three and six o'clock (Matt. 14: 25), when they had gone three or four miles (v. 19), Jesus appeared to them, walking on the boisterous waters. And they were afraid, thinking they had seen an apparition. Jesus calmed their fears, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid.

Fifth. Peter's experience (Matt. 14: 28-31). When he saw that it was Jesus who spoke, Peter answered, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters." This was in perfect harmony with Peter's sanguine, bold, self-confident character at this time. He wanted to show his faith in Jesus, possibly to show his courage to the other disciples, in boyish delight in the adventure. Jesus bade him come. He walked on the water for a short distance, then looking away from Jesus to the boisterous waters around him he began to sink, and cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus took his hand, saying, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" They both entered into the boat, and the wind ceased. A beautiful word in the Greek; the wind grew weary, sank away like one who is weary with his fierce struggles and lies down to rest.

Christ and St. Peter,

24. When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

25. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

26. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

This experience in the storm was full of instruction for the disciples in many ways.

A Discussion in the class on the value to the disciples of this adventure.

II. SEEKING THE LOWER OR HIGHER GOOD, vs. 22-27. Some of the multitude remained in the region of Bethsaida (v. 22) thinking how they might persuade Jesus to take the lead in setting up the Jewish kingdom after their own ideas. They saw that the boat in which he had come was gone (though in fact other boats touched at the place, driven thither by the storm, and could have brought Jesus to Capernaum) and they wondered why they could not find him. Finally they also took shipping (Am. R., "they themselves got into the boat"), and came to Čapernaum, seeking for Jesus.

25. When they had found him, they said, Rabbi, that is Master, Teacher, when camest thou hither? for it was a mystery how he got across unseen.

26. Jesus answered, not their question, but their needs and thoughts. Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles (Am. R., " signs "), proofs of his mission. They were not attracted by the miracles as signs of God's love, as types and proofs that Jesus was the Messiah, as invitations to trust and love him. They saw the outward form of the miracles, but not the soul; they read the words as in an unknown tongue, but did not see their meaning. But because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. They were not hypocrites; they only took a low view, and were selfish. Their motives lay chiefly in the results of the miracles; the healing, the satisfying of hunger, and not in the miracles as signs. Even when they would make him king, they emphasized in their thoughts the worldly advantages of such a power as Jesus had shown. "This gave the measure of their Messianic expectation. He was the true Messiah who could maintain them in life without toil.". Exp. Gk. Test.

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27. Labour not for the meat (Am. R., "Work not for the food") which perisheth. Labor = earn by working. The food that perisheth, that feeds the body, the things that belong to our worldly life, the quest for money, for power, for satisfaction of all the desires of the body. These are not to be the chief end and aim of living, at the expense of higher and better things. But for that meat (Am. R., "food") which endureth unto everlasting life. Really all we can carry out of this world is whatever we may have of character when we are through with living. The Beatitudes tell us what are the things that will abide. The fruits of the Spirit, of which Saint Paul tells us, are the only qualities that will endure to eternal life."— J. R. Miller. Whatsoever builds up the character, increases faith, hope, love, knowledge, and all the virtues, makes the conscience more tender and true, cultures the will, perfects the judgment, and enables the soul to work out a pure and holy life, and fits it for heaven, whatever does these things is the bread of life.

Labor for earthly food should be merely a means to something higher, which is the true end of all labor. Thus one who works to obtain means to give to missions or for an education is not really working for money, but for missions or education. So one who works that he may obtain food in order to live a Christian life and serve God in the world is not laboring for the meat that perisheth.

But the seeking first the satisfaction of worldly wants is degrading and unworthy. The base of life's ladder is on the earth. "God knoweth that we have need of these things." Our bodies must be cared for. We must eat, work, do business. That is a false idea that would separate true life from the earth and hide it from worldly care and work and pleasure. God's saints are found in the marts of business, amid

the hum of machinery, in the activities of life, far more than in hermits' huts or monastery walls.

But woe is upon him who makes this base the whole of life, and does not make his life a stairway to heaven. Every step of a true life is a step toward God and heaven. That life is a prison which does not have visions and purposes that reach to the

Celestial City.

Satisfying the soul with this world is like quenching thirst with the salt water of the sea, that makes one still more thirsty.

It

Which the Son of man shall give unto you. Jesus gives the Everlasting Life. can be received, but it cannot be bought. "It is given thee; but yet thou must strive after it, if thou wouldest possess it." R. Besser. Most of the best gifts of God we must thus labor for, seek earnestly and supremely. He gives us our daily bread; but we must labor for it. He gives us education, wisdom, character; but we must seek and work. Yet they are none the less his gifts.

For him hath God the Father sealed, attested, proved to be what Jesus claimed to be, the divine Son of God, the Messiah.

We can understand this statement better by a reference to the seals of the ancient Babylonians, of which many thousands have been found in the ruins of Babylon. These seals were used by rulers and business

men as a means of identifying deeds, documents, treasure boxes, just as we identify such things by our written signatures of which no two are alike in all the world.

Each one had his own personal seal, in a. land where few could read, and where the written language had no more distinctive marks than a printed signature with us. They rolled or stamped their seal upon the document when the clay was soft, and the seal was made permanent as the clay grew hard by fire or by time.

Jesus was sealed by God as his Son and the Messiah, by the signs and miracles he wrought, by testimony, "This is my beloved Son," by his teachings, his character, his perfect life, his sacrifice of love on the cross, by his resurrection.

An Ancient Babylonian Seal.

These seals vary from three-quarters of an inch to two inches in length and from one-quarter of an inch to one inch in diameter. Each one has a hole drilled through the centre. They are used in signing letters and documents written on clay. Signet rings also were used for the same purpose.

Living in the Basement. "If we suppose a man possessed of a magnificent house, luxuriously and tastefully furnished, who yet chooses never to ascend a stair, and lives in the basement, shabbily and meanly, with the coarsest appliances of physical comfort, we might take him as a type of not a few bad men, who seem entirely at their ease. They live in the basement. They have thrown away the key to the upper rooms. They have lost all appreciation of the higher, better modes of human living, and they are contented and satisfied, as a well-fed beast is, in the absence of all spiritual cravings and ambitions." Gradually" the body becomes the soul's dungeon, and its walls thicken inward, and close up the wonted entrances of enjoyment. The senses, deadened on the side of pleasure, no longer avenues of beauty or of harmony, seem to serve only as a means of prolonging a death in life, and as open inlets of discomfort and pain." Dr. A. P. Peabody in Introduction to Plutarch on the Delay of the Divine Justice, pp. 27, 28.

The Good or the Best. A Boy's Choice.

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But, father, it's not wrong."

No," said the man slowly, "it's not." "Then I may go !" exclaimed the boy happily.

"It will be loads of fun!"

"Son, you are old enough to decide for yourself, and I won't say you may or may not go. I would rather leave the decision entirely with you.'

"But you don't want me to go?" said the boy reluctantly.

"You've heard my objections, but, as you say, it's not wrong, and you are to decide for yourself."

"I wish you would not put it that way. I want to go so much; it will be such a jolly crowd and they will have a splendid time. Please say you think it will be all right."

28. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

"Son, I don't want to preach at you, and I don't want to prejudice you in your decision, but I want to remind you of one thing. This is not a question of good or bad; it is a decision between good and best. If it was the question of right or wrong, I know you wouldn't hesitate; in fact, I think there would only be a little temptation for you. It is in choosing the best that the test comes.

"So many of us are satisfied if we just crawl out of the muck of wrong, and don't try to climb up to the hills of better and best. The world, as a rule, is satisfied with the merely good. So the sacrifice - for in choosing the best we usually have to make some sacrifice seems to be unnecessary. But every time you have a chance to choose, and you choose the best, your character grows a little stronger, purer, and higher. And when you decide that the merely good is sufficient, your character softens a little.

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Sometimes men are made famous in a moment by the hard choice of the best ; famous men have been ruined by failing to take the highest way. The law may make you choose the good, but only with the help of God can you choose the best."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes; then the boy heard the shrill whistle of his chum, and hurried out to answer it.

The man sat and wondered; but the boy did not go. - Youth's Companion. III. THE FIRST WORK GOD GIVES US TO DO, vs. 28, 29. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Some at least of the crowd are impressed, and they ask him, How can we labor so as to satisfy God? What precisely is it that God waits for us to do, and will be satisfied with our doing? To which Jesus always ready to meet the sincere inquirer gives the explicit answer in verse 29.' Exp. Gk. Test. It was a puzzle to them to know just what kind of work Jesus meant. And yet the answer was right before them. It is said that Rev. Russell Conwell has delivered more than 5000 times his lecture on "An Acre of Diamonds" which means the treasure right at hand if one only has eyes to see it.

The Answer of Jesus. 29. This is the work of God. This is what you must do to gain eternal life, the work God wants you to do. That ye believe on him whom he hath sent. It was an act of the soul, of the spirit, that was needed. If God has sent a messenger, a teacher, a representative, your first business is to receive him, to accept of him as your teacher, to be loyal to him as your Messiah leader, and obey him as you would the great King who has sent him. In Christ and his principles was the highest and best possible for man. To believe in him implied loyalty, consecration, a new heart, a new motive, a new ideal, producing a new life, a fountain of living water, a source of every spiritual good, and of all kinds of good works.

The outward actions flow from the inner spirit. "The spiritual motive for community service, realized in you and me, and more and more in all men, will but quicken every other motive, and put fires under the boilers that shall furnish steam to the engines of every humane and just cause. What the world to-day is waiting for is just the quickening of the fires by the heat of a great spiritual passion for the best in the souls of men. We do not need more machinery, for the engineering of philanthropy, reform, and social service is already well effected. It is an engineering age. What is now needed is the dynamic of great spiritual conceptions and ardent spiritual convictions, to put the splendid machinery of social betterment to work." Leslie Willis Sprague in the Advance.

In order to do this work of faith, and to enable us to bear its fruits, we, both young and old, will need to do what a bright writer in the Congregationalist calls his Annual Clearance Sale.

30. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

"At certain times of the year, particularly in January and February, the shop windows are full of all sorts of dressgoods at reduced prices. Beautifully printed little cards look out at us as we stand looking into the window and they say something like this: 'Reduced in Price; our Annual Clearance Sale is on. We must get rid of these goods.'

Yes, my heart is

"One day I stood looking into my own shop-window. What? my shop; all my treasures, be they good or bad, are kept there. Where the treasure is there is the heart also,' said the Wisest of All Men.

"And as I looked into my shop-window I saw that I had many, many things that I could afford to sell off at a reduced price. 'I must get rid of this goods,' for it is not a 'good' but a 'bad.'

"Then, next, were some things that had no real value but littered up my shelves. Here was laziness, yards of it! I wonder why I ever laid in such a stock of it! Reduced! I'll sell it cheap. And then there was my habit of postponement ! How it cluttered up my whole shop! And after I once began I found whole loads of other things which had been accumulating for years!

"Useless old goods, all of it! Temper, bad moods, impatience, cross and ugly speech. . . . My shop seemed full of nothing but ‘old bads.'

"So I walked home and painted my signs — Annual Clearance Sale.' And I am now selling off all my rubbish. .. I won't have it around any more!

I

"And do you know there is Some One who will take it all off my hands'! think if you try you can recall His Name." George Lawrence Parker (Condensed). IV. THE BREAD OF LIFE, vs. 30-40. They said therefore unto him, in answer to his statement that he was sent from God, and that it was their duty to believe on him, and that this was what God required of them. What sign shewest thou? (Am. R., "What then doest thou for a sign?"). ""Thou' is emphatic: What dost thou on thy part?' They quite understand that in the words Him whom he hath sent' Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah; but they want a proof." Cambridge Bible. What dost thou work? What do you do that will prove that you are greater than all the prophets of old? What kingly acts that will prove you to be worthy to be the king of the Jews? So far as this desire for proof grew out of a real desire to know whether he were the Messiah, it was right. Christ does not wish us to have a mere blind belief, but always gives us proofs and reasons for the faith he requires of us.

31. They appeal to the signs and proofs that had been given in the past to prove that their leader Moses was a prophet sent from God.

31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert (see Ex. 16). As it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat (Ex. 16:4; Psa. 78: 24, Septuagint Version). Moses, our founder, lawgiver, and leader, to whom the Promised Deliverer is to be like (Deut. 18: 15; Acts 3: 22).

"Moses proved that he was sent from God by giving the people bread from heaven to eat ; now what do you do that is greater than this to prove that you are the greater prophet, even the Messiah, who will deliver us from our bondage to the Romans, as Moses delivered us from the Egyptians ? "

They seem to have been thinking over the miracle of the loaves, since the day before, when they tried to make Jesus a king on that account, and to have questioned whether after all he was as great as they at first thought. For (1) Moses, in their thought, gave the manna 40 years; Jesus had given bread only for one afternoon meal. (2) Moses gave it from heaven; Jesus wrought his miracle on earth in the simplest possible way. (3) Moses fed hundreds of thousands, Jesus only five or six thousands. (4)" The manna," says Abbott, 66 was a sweet and delicate food; but

the bread which Christ had distributed was barley bread, the commonest fare of the poorest people.' (5) It is quite possible that some who ate the bread did not realize the greatness of the miracle, so naturally and quietly was it performed. Thus they argued.

Jesus' Answer. 32. Verily, verily, repeated for emphatic emphasis. Jesus gives a fourfold answer to their question, proving his superiority. (1) I say unto you,